Can Sarah Palin Really Be a Feminist?
Image courtesy of PhotobucketDictionary.com defines the word "feminism" as "the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men." Merriam-Webster's entry is similar: "The theory of political, economic, and social equality of the sexes." Check a few others and you'll see the definition is pretty uniform. Nothing is mentioned about a requirement that a feminist be someone who supports abortion rights.
Recently, Sarah Palin has added to her pit-bull-with-lipstick persona by embracing the mental image of a mama grizzly bear, trying to energize her sister conservatives into becoming activists, claiming the title of "feminist" for themselves.
And there are plenty who are crying foul.
Not surprisingly, traditional feminists -- those who fought the long (and still unfinished) fight for equal rights, an end to gender discrimination, and the right to make our own reproductive decisions -- claim that Palin can't be a feminist because she opposes abortion rights. Palin's new embrace (or her attempt to usurp, depending on your perspective) of that feminist label has again raised the question many have asked for a long time: What does it really mean to be a feminist?
For me, it means that I have the right to make decisions for myself, especially when it comes to my body -- just as men have had the right to do since, say, the dawn of time. The feminist movement was born from the idea that men, be they husbands or lawmakers, shouldn't have the right to determine the details of women's lives, especially how and when to have families. What Palin is calling "conservative feminism" is more narrowly drawn, calling on girls and women to embrace the idea that they can have children and be active outside the home as long as they rely only on their own bootstraps for their own success.
Sorry, Sarah, but while bootstraps are all well and good (and I've used mine plenty, thank you very much), there also needs to be a true support network among all women before any form of feminism wins the day.
Interestingly, it's not just the Palin crowd that's been trying to redefine feminism. During the 2008 presidential election, many young women claimed they could be feminists without being obligated to vote for a woman candidate, forsaking Hillary Clinton in favor of a man (who, by the way, still has a long way to go to prove his own feminist bona fides). But I digress.
Here's the thing -- while Palin likes to tout that she didn't choose abortion for herself when she found out her then-unborn son Trig had Down syndrome, she considered it. She considered it because it was her choice -- a choice she doesn't want other women to have. She's proudly proclaimed that her daughter Bristol chose to keep her baby when faced with her unwed teen pregnancy. But she had a choice. And that's one of the unspoken underlying principles of feminism, isn't it -- having the right to choose, to have control over those decisions about our own bodies. The right to make all our own choices, just as men have always had.
Just as Palin and her daughter had.
So, if one is going to claim the feminist mantle, I have to conclude that you have to be willing to say that all women have the right to self-determination. It's about choices and we don't all have to make the same ones.
I don't have to be a mama grizzly to stand up for what I believe is right or to defend how I view the world as a feminist. But touch the things I believe are my daughter's birthright and I might have to channel my inner wolverine.
Joanne Bamberger also likes to hang around the blogosphere writing about politics at her place, PunditMom. She finally finished her manuscript about how women -- progressive, conservative, and in-between -- are revolutionizing the world of politics through social media!
Piping Hot Posts
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Rebekah
Mrs Palin's notion of feminism is anrrowly construed as women being allowed to work outside the home. But...and this is a pretty big but...I contend that she has no flipping clue about how that came to be and what steps we all need to be taking to make sure that the right of feminine self-determination doesn't slip away. It infuriates me that Mrs. Palin stands before us, on the shoulders of feminist and civil rights giants like Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Gloria Steinem, and so very many more, but does not seem to know what those who came before her did or why she should care. She doesn't udnerstand that women sweated and bled to get us to a point in history where a Sarah Palin, a beauty queen with nerve but not a lot else, can rise to the level of power she has. It took almost 300 years for women to be able to be empty suits. Progress? I guess. But I think her brand of "feminism" is detrimental to the rest of us in that she rallies women to be shrill and angry rather than studied and informed.
RanaAurora
She played the woman, mom and disabled child mom way too many times... especially in the "they're only doing it because I'm a woman" way.
MomIWant
While not a fan of Palin, I might agree with her views on feminism. I don't believe the definition "the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men."includes we must all have the same beliefs. I'm not sure how thinking that men and women should be equal requires me to believe that life doesn't start at conception. I always get confused at this point in the argument when I am NOT a feminist because I AM pro-life. I always thought that the point of feminism is to stop gender bias - to take each person at their value regardless of the productive system - to value each HUMAN equally - which would include respecting my beliefs, wouldn't it?
EB
THANK YOU!!
This could have been one of the red-faced rants I went off on during the election. Your definition is right, and until all women can agree that we all deserve a choice, then we cannot unite under one common banner titled 'feminism.'
lovinangels
Sarah Palin is a zit on the azz of the Republican party. Seriously. I think she was meant to be the trump card in a thrown election (pubs had no chance of winning, she was the bit that was supposed to make us think they were actually trying.) Now she just wont. go. away. Ugh. She can be a "feminist" if she wants, she's a talk show host! who cares!
Anyway, I would consider myself, maybe not a feminist, but for equal rights. Men have no reproductive say, (don't want a baby, don't have sex. Want a baby? hope your partner doesn't change her mind, because she has 100% of the reproductive rights, you get zip. The man, at NO POINT gets a legal say. If a woman decides she wants to continue a pregnancy, that he doesn't want , he's on the hook for the rest of his life, regardless.) I don't think we as women want equal rights, I think we want some equal and some better. If we really wanted equal reproductive rights, a man could recuse himself from a pregnancy and have no legal obligation. But that just sounds disgusting, doesn't it?
RanaAurora
Sarah Palin is a zit on the azz of the Republican party
JennyErikson
FTR- Palin didn't say that she considered having an abortion with Trig. She said she could see how other people made that choice.
Just being nit-picky. Carry on! :-)
PunditMom
Actually, what she said at the time was, this --
"....Just for a fleeting moment I thought, 'No one knows me here; no one would ever know.' ..."
As far as I'm concerned, that's contemplating a choice. It doesn't really matter what her ultimate choice was or that she know tries to back away from that, saying she can understand that others would think about it. Palin thought about. She thought about the fact that she had a choice.
And the fact that she doesn't want other women to have that same choice is pretty disingenuous.
And as for "feminism" vs. "equal rights" -- distinction without a difference?
lovinangels
lol. thought i explained my difference - i think men should have some reproductive choices, too! Even though it sounds icky.
lovinangels
plus, i"m prolife- so i guess the term feminist doesnt apply to me!